A bit of festive cheer
On Friday 12th December, feelings were very festive as the Withington Civic Society, Love Withington and others got involved with carols around the Christmas tree and the Christmas lights switch-on in Withington. The event takes place every year just in front of our branch and is always well attended, with around 200 people braving the cold. This year, South Manchester Lettings Manager, Neil Ryder was also on hand to present Love Withington with a donation from Philip James.
Neil said, “We have been donating to Withington Civic Society for the past 3 years and are proud to be associated with them and the great work they do for the community. As always the carol service was good fun and well attended and the tree looks wonderful.”
The Withington Civic Society and Love Withington have both been very heavily involved in local community projects such as Love Withington Baths and each year organise a number of events that take place in the local community including Withington remembers WW1 2014, Withington Fire station’s 75th Anniversary celebrations, the protest march to save Withington Baths, the M20 Royal Diamond Jubilee celebrations, The Withington Baths Centenary Celebrations and the “Goodbye Party” for Old Moat Primary School to name just a few.
This year’s event attracted some other companies to get involved such as Sainsbury’s, the Co-op and Oxfam. Councillor Jeff Smith presented a Volunteer of the Year Award and the Withington Community Fire station made sure that Santa arrived on time.
We all had a fantastic evening and hope to see the event return for many years to come. You can see some other photos of the event here.
Love Withington Baths is a charity that was set up after Manchester City Council announced that they could no longer afford to keep the building and pool open in January 2013. Local residents galvanised themselves into action and have been campaigning to prevent the closure. The Edwardian building and pool were built in 1911 and have served the community for over a century and the community group is planning to keep it open for at least another century. To find out more, visit the charity’s website.
Finally, from all of the staff at Philip James Lettings, we’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
